A liquid crystal display apparatus is attracted attention for its properties such as being thin, lightweight, and having low power consumption, and is widely used in portable devices such as a cellular phone and a watch, office automation (OA) devices such as a personal computer monitor and a laptop personal computer, and home electrical appliances such as a video camera and a liquid crystal television. This owes to technical innovations of the liquid crystal display apparatus overcoming such disadvantages that its display characteristics vary depending on a viewing angle of a screen and cannot be operated at high temperatures and very low temperatures. However, as the range of its use has been increased, required characteristics vary depending on its use. For example, in a conventional liquid crystal display apparatus, it has been said that the display characteristic may only satisfy a contrast ratio between white/black displays of about 10 in an oblique direction. This definition derives from a contrast ratio of black ink printed on white paper such as newspapers and magazines. However, in a case where the liquid crystal display apparatus is used in a floor type television, several persons view the screen of the television at the same time. Accordingly, demand is growing for a display in which a reduction in contrast ratio between a front direction and an oblique direction can be further suppressed. Further, as the display becomes larger, a person viewing the screen views the four corners of the screen in different azimuths even if he or she does not move. Accordingly, it is also important for the contrast ratio of the liquid crystal apparatus not to change depending on the azimuth in which he or she views the screen. Unless such problems are alleviated, a human being who views the screen of a large color television will feel senses of incongruity and fatigue.
Various retardation films have been conventionally used in a liquid crystal display apparatus. For example, a method involving placing a retardation film the refractive index ellipsoid of which has the relationship of nx>nz>ny and a retardation film the refractive index ellipsoid of which has the relationship of nx=ny>nz on one side of a liquid crystal cell according to a vertical alignment (VA) mode to improve a contrast ratio in an oblique direction has been disclosed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). However, a liquid crystal display apparatus obtained by such technology involves the following problem: when one views the screen of the apparatus in an oblique direction, a contrast ratio largely changes depending on the azimuth in which he or she views the screen, or the contrast ratio remarkably reduces in a specific azimuth. Accordingly, the solution of such problem has been desired.
Patent Document 1: JP 2000-039610 A